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October 31, 2016

There are three ways I will eat shrimp.
Shrimp Cocktail
Shrimp Japchae or Chap Chae
and
Shrimp (creole-style) & Grits

I take the best of a Creole sauce, marry it to Low Country Shrimp and serve it over a cheesy bowl of Italian grits (aka; polenta).
Now I ask you, what could possibly be better than that?

Nothing, absolutely freakin' nothing!

OK, you want to know the difference between Low country Shrimp and Creole Shrimp.
Creole has spice and a tomato based sauce.
Low country is not as spicy and the shrimp sit in a lighter butter/wine based sauce.

First thing you need to do is peel and devein large shrimp but save the shells.
In a bowl, I put about a tablespoon of BAM into a cup of beer and stir to dissolve. Add the cleaned shrimp and set aside.

Bring 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock to a boil and add in the shells. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Strain out the shells and set aside.

Fry the bacon (or pancetta) in a skillet to render the fat and once that is done you add in the Holy Trinity and saute until the vegetables start to brown. Add in a tablespoon of Cajun spices (BAM)
and 3 tablespoons of flour.

Cook off the flour and add in half the shrimp-infused broth. Stir to blend and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the fresh tomato and continue to simmer on low for another 15 minutes. It should look like this........

After simmering, add the tomato paste and the remaining broth.
Simmer for another 30 minutes on low and it should become smoother as the vegetables cook down, just like this........

Remove the skillet and set aside to cool.
At this point you can refrigerate for up to three days or simply reserve in a bowl.
Since the shrimp should be and best be sauteed right before serving them together with the spinach over the grits.

I like to add a sauteed green with this dish even though grits is technically a vegetable, and spinach is easy to cook.
It adds to the nutritionals and it adds color to what can be, a bland base.

Peel and devein large shrimp but save the shells.
In a bowl, put about a tablespoon of BAM into a cup of beer and stir to dissolve. Add the cleaned shrimp and set aside.

Bring 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock to a boil and add in the shells. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Strain out the shells and set aside.

Fry
the bacon (or pancetta) in a skillet to render the fat and once that is
done you add in the Holy Trinity (peppers, onions, garlic and celery) and saute until the vegetables start
to brown. Add in the rest of the Cajun spices (BAM) and the flour.

Cook
off the flour and add in half the shrimp-infused broth. Stir to blend
and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the fresh tomato and continue to simmer
on low for another 15 minutes.

After simmering, add the tomato paste and the remaining broth.
Simmer for another 30 minutes on low and it should become smoother as the vegetables cook down.
Remove the skillet and set aside to cool.
At this point you can refrigerate for up to three days or simply reserve in a bowl.
Since the shrimp should be and best be sauteed right before serving them together with the spinach over the grits.

October 26, 2016

When eating alone I always make fish and chances are it is salmon 95% of the time.
I buy North American Salmon steaks, never frozen, and make 2 Mignon's from one piece.
Takes a little prep time but in my opinion, the only way to eat this particular preparation.

I have tried this recipe on side fillet but it just never works. I think the King Salmon steaks are the right type of salmon and the Mignon is boneless and always the right thickness to cook perfectly on the grill.

To see how these are prepared, check out this post of mine. I believe there is even a YouTube video of how to make salmon Mignon's inspired by Alton Brown.

The marinade is only 4 ingredients and everyone probably has all the ingredients in their pantry.

I admit I always have at least 4 of those dried ramen soup packets in my pantry and was the perfect start to this noodle bowl.

I added asparagus tips, savoy cabbage, carrots & sun-dried red peppers to the soup to steam for 5 minutes. The salmon, I grilled for 5 minutes on each side, but a broiler would work just as well.

Oh, and I took it's picture with my new iPhone. Sorry, I was so hungry and I wanted to eat it hot, so I did an Instagram click and sat down to dinner.

October 24, 2016

For those of you who are also having problems with illegal links vs. GOOGLE, there is good news.
If you take the time to "no follow" your links, Google will retest your site for compliance if you ask them (nicely). Just explain what you did to rectify the problem, in a few days you can also get a clean bill of health.